Man uses iPhone app to revive stunned bird

A British tree surgeon, Leon Timms, was at home recently when he saw a tiny chaffinch lying on the ground. The small bird had apparently flown into one of the solar panels on Timms' roof or smacked into a window, and it was dazed and having problems breathing. Smart-thinking Timms immediately grabbed for the nearest bird-revival tool at hand -- an iPhone.

Timms said that "I brought the chaffinch inside and started stroking him on my lap, and then I came up with the idea of playing it the sound of another chaffinch on my mobile phone app. I popped the app on and almost immediately the bird's eyes opened and he seemed to become more alert ... It definitely responded to the sound of another chaffinch."

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Wendy Johnson, said that "We haven't heard of this happening before. It's a very creative use of an app." In an almost unforgivable pun, Timms noted that "This is something I can tweet about."